Secret Pals

s-s-s-s-s-h!! It's a secret!! What fun...packages being wrapped, knittery things arriving from on-line orders, shopping around with lists in hand, surprise e-mail cards, and just tickled giggling when some item worked out well!! Whoopee!!  And then. . .there are the surprise friends you make from reading blogs. During SP10 I read 2 blogs in particular. One resulted in a knitting buddy who lives 2 blocks away. Some one who comes and spends the afternoon in companionable knitting and "knittip" (that's knitting gossip).  We ride together to knitting groups at LYS and coffee shops. How great is that!  And then.. there is the knitter I may never meet. I hope to meet her one day but she lives across the big pond in England. Her heart is so-o-o-o big. How big, you ask? Well, she knitted MS3 and sent it to me! I could never have let it go. I just sit and admire the hours of tiny knitting and marvel if I will ever master stockinette!!

My secret pal this year has sent messages and e-cards. They are so much fun to get. Suddenly they just pop up in your mail and you know someone somewhere got up that morning and thought of you. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

My downstream pal is about to be gifted. Because of the surgery in November I decided to get it all together now. The hardest decision now is what to send when. I am a terrible gift person about waiting. Christmas is torture. At 66 I am the first up that morning and I want everyone to open now!! Fortunately My family understands and jollies me around. They take the paper off so-o-o- slowly!

Knitting news . . . the lace socks have gone to the bottom of the barrel. The pattern was distorting because my tension was not dependable!! I am a self taught knitter and picked up some terrible habits. One of which is throwing and it is not conducive to even tension. So I am putting myself through Cheryl's knitting school of "picking". I quess in all the years of baby and childrens knitting I never ran across these lovely patterns that require a certain degree of continuity in tension. The variance never seemed to make a difference and now it does. I am still knitting, booties and some hats and dishcloths.

Knee and general health. . . . the lack of exercise has resulted in a hip spread that is deplorable. My daughter, however has stepped in and shown me the way. SHe is going to lead me to weight loss and better health. I hear my son cheering in the next state over! I have gotten very slack about diet and exercise. I found "Fitter Knitters" and "Diethack". I also used South Beach Diet last year and liked it. These are my tools and I will report every Tuesday after our check in with each other. Megan created a visual to help me achieve my goal.  Don't you like my new ME!